One piece shim

a technology of shims and shims, applied in the field of shims, can solve the problems of high manufacturing cost, high loss from breakage, and very fragile alumina block members, and achieve the effect of correspondingly simple manufacturing and less expensive refurbishmen

Active Publication Date: 2006-08-17
SAFRAN LANDING SYSTEMS
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The one-piece shim member significantly reduces loading time, minimizes preform deformation, and decreases the need for remedial machining, thereby lowering manufacturing costs and waste, while maintaining efficient gas flow and supporting the preforms effectively.

Problems solved by technology

However, once formed, the alumina block members are very fragile, and losses from breakage are very high.
This naturally raises manufacturing costs, as the alumina blocks must be replaced.
Moreover, the proper manual placement of individual alumina block members between each preform layer is extremely time-consuming.
Another problem related to the use of individual spacer members 30 is that they tend to cause deformations (literally, dents) in the preforms caused by the weight of preforms (and spacers) stacked thereabove.
The machined-away material represents economic waste.

Method used

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Examples

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Embodiment Construction

[0021] In general, a shim member according to the present invention has certain fundamentally useful characteristics.

[0022] A one-piece or otherwise unitary construction greatly facilitates the loading of a process chamber with stacked annular preforms, in comparison to the use of several individual spacer members between every annular preform in the stack. As noted above, the conventional arrangement described above with reference to FIG. 2 requires manual placement of each conventional spacer member. Moreover, because the conventional spacer member is usually made from a highly fragile material such as alumina, each spacer member must be handled with great care during an already lengthy and tedious manual process to try to avoid breakage. The spacer members are also relatively small and very thin (for example, 1″×4″×0.1″), which also makes handling them difficult.

[0023] With the use of a one-piece shim member according to the present invention, a single action of positioning the...

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Abstract

A one-piece or otherwise unitary annular shim member made from a perforated metallic material is used to maintain a space between stacked annular preforms during a manufacturing process, such as densification. The metallic material used preferably can withstand at least the temperatures encountered during densification. The one-piece structure advantageously simplifies the arrangement of the preforms in a process chamber and causes less deformation in the preforms. In one example, the shim member is made from a metallic mesh and may utilize a crimped weave structure.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to shim members used to space apart stacked porous substrates during a manufacturing process. A particular example of the present invention relates to metallic annular shim members used to space apart stacked annular composite material preforms especially during a densification process, such as chemical vapor infiltration (CVI). [0002] The composite material preforms may particularly be annular preforms for making brake disks or other friction members. [0003] An apparatus for densifying annular preforms to make brake disks and the like is disclosed in, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 468,031 filed on Aug. 14, 2003; a representation thereof is illustrated in FIG. 1. [0004]FIG. 1 is a highly diagrammatic illustration of a process chamber having an enclosure 10 therein containing a load of annular preforms or substrates 20 made from carbon fiber. The load is in the form of a stack of substrates having the...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & AuthorityApplications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C23C16/00B23QB32B9/00C04B35/52C04B35/83C04B41/50C04B41/87C23C16/04C23C16/44C23C16/458F16D69/02F27B5/04F27B5/14F27B5/16F27D7/00
CPCC04B35/522Y10T428/218C04B41/5059C04B41/87C04B2235/9623C23C16/045C23C16/4581C23C16/4583F16D69/023F27B5/04F27B5/14F27B5/16F27D7/00Y10T428/2962C04B35/83Y10T442/109Y10T442/102Y10T442/339Y10T442/3382F16D69/02C23C16/458
InventorCHANG, KENNY
OwnerSAFRAN LANDING SYSTEMS